diff --git a/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs b/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs
index cdab15435..c3957b422 100644
--- a/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs
+++ b/apis/python/node/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 #![allow(clippy::borrow_deref_ref)] // clippy warns about code generated by #[pymethods]
 
-use arrow::pyarrow::PyArrowConvert;
 use dora_node_api::{DoraNode, EventStream};
-use dora_operator_api_python::{pydict_to_metadata, PyEvent};
+use dora_operator_api_python::{process_python_output, pydict_to_metadata, PyEvent};
 use eyre::Context;
 use pyo3::prelude::*;
-use pyo3::types::{PyBytes, PyDict};
+use pyo3::types::PyDict;
 
 #[pyclass]
 pub struct Node {
@@ -43,24 +42,9 @@ impl Node {
         metadata: Option<&PyDict>,
         py: Python,
     ) -> eyre::Result<()> {
-        if let Ok(py_bytes) = data.downcast::<PyBytes>(py) {
-            let data = py_bytes.as_bytes();
+        process_python_output(&data, py, |data| {
             self.send_output_slice(output_id, data.len(), data, metadata)
-        } else if let Ok(arrow_array) = arrow::array::ArrayData::from_pyarrow(data.as_ref(py)) {
-            if arrow_array.data_type() != &arrow::datatypes::DataType::UInt8 {
-                eyre::bail!("only arrow arrays with data type `UInt8` are supported");
-            }
-            if arrow_array.buffers().len() != 1 {
-                eyre::bail!("output arrow array must contain a single buffer");
-            }
-
-            let len = arrow_array.len();
-            let slice = &arrow_array.buffer(0)[..len];
-
-            self.send_output_slice(output_id, len, slice, metadata)
-        } else {
-            eyre::bail!("invalid `data` type, must by `PyBytes` or arrow array")
-        }
+        })
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/apis/python/operator/src/lib.rs b/apis/python/operator/src/lib.rs
index 6db72616f..5c6fd8e65 100644
--- a/apis/python/operator/src/lib.rs
+++ b/apis/python/operator/src/lib.rs
@@ -127,3 +127,28 @@ pub fn metadata_to_pydict<'a>(metadata: &'a Metadata, py: Python<'a>) -> &'a PyD
     .unwrap();
     dict
 }
+
+pub fn process_python_output<T>(
+    data: &PyObject,
+    py: Python,
+    callback: impl FnOnce(&[u8]) -> eyre::Result<T>,
+) -> eyre::Result<T> {
+    if let Ok(py_bytes) = data.downcast::<PyBytes>(py) {
+        let data = py_bytes.as_bytes();
+        callback(data)
+    } else if let Ok(arrow_array) = arrow::array::ArrayData::from_pyarrow(data.as_ref(py)) {
+        if arrow_array.data_type() != &arrow::datatypes::DataType::UInt8 {
+            eyre::bail!("only arrow arrays with data type `UInt8` are supported");
+        }
+        if arrow_array.buffers().len() != 1 {
+            eyre::bail!("output arrow array must contain a single buffer");
+        }
+
+        let len = arrow_array.len();
+        let slice = &arrow_array.buffer(0)[..len];
+
+        callback(slice)
+    } else {
+        eyre::bail!("invalid `data` type, must by `PyBytes` or arrow array")
+    }
+}
diff --git a/binaries/runtime/src/operator/python.rs b/binaries/runtime/src/operator/python.rs
index d5c837e10..d5d973f99 100644
--- a/binaries/runtime/src/operator/python.rs
+++ b/binaries/runtime/src/operator/python.rs
@@ -264,30 +264,29 @@ mod callback_impl {
     use crate::operator::OperatorEvent;
 
     use super::SendOutputCallback;
-    use dora_operator_api_python::pydict_to_metadata;
+    use dora_operator_api_python::{process_python_output, pydict_to_metadata};
     use eyre::{eyre, Context, Result};
-    use pyo3::{
-        pymethods,
-        types::{PyBytes, PyDict},
-    };
+    use pyo3::{pymethods, types::PyDict, PyObject, Python};
 
     #[pymethods]
     impl SendOutputCallback {
         fn __call__(
             &mut self,
             output: &str,
-            data: &PyBytes,
+            data: PyObject,
             metadata: Option<&PyDict>,
+            py: Python,
         ) -> Result<()> {
-            let data = data.as_bytes();
+            let data = process_python_output(&data, py, |data| Ok(data.to_owned()))?;
+
             let metadata = pydict_to_metadata(metadata)
-                .wrap_err("Could not parse metadata.")?
+                .wrap_err("failed to parse metadata")?
                 .into_owned();
 
             let event = OperatorEvent::Output {
                 output_id: output.to_owned().into(),
                 metadata,
-                data: data.to_owned(),
+                data,
             };
 
             self.events_tx